Kento Yonezawa

Probing the early stages of photoreception in photoactive yellow protein with ultrafast time-domain Raman spectroscopy

Unveiling the nuclear motions of photoreceptor proteins in action is a crucial goal in protein science in order to understand their elaborate mechanisms and how they achieve optimal selectivity and efficiency. Previous studies have provided detailed information on the structures of intermediates that appear during the later stages (>ns) of such photoreception cycles, yet the initial events immediately after photoabsorption remain unclear because of experimental challenges in monitoring nuclear rearrangements on ultrafast timescales, including protein-specific low-frequency motions. Using time-domain Raman probing with sub-7-fs pulses, we obtain snapshot vibrational spectra of photoactive yellow protein and a mutant with high sensitivity, providing insights into the key responses that drive photoreception. Our data show a drastic intensity drop of the excited-state marker band at 135 cm-1 within a few hundred femtoseconds, suggesting a rapid weakening of the hydrogen bond that anchors the chromophore. We also track formation of the first ground-state intermediate over the first few picoseconds and fully characterize its vibrational structure, revealing a substantially-twisted cis conformation.

Neutron crystallography of photoactive yellow protein reveals unusual protonation state of Arg52 in the crystal

Because of its high pKa, arginine (Arg) is believed to be protonated even in the hydrophobic environment of the protein interior. However, our neutron crystallographic structure of photoactive yellow protein, a light sensor, demonstrated that Arg52 adopts an electrically neutral form. We also showed that the hydrogen bond between the chromophore and Glu46 is a so-called low barrier hydrogen bond (LBHB). Because both the neutral Arg and LBHB are unusual in proteins, these observations remain controversial. To validate our findings, we carried out neutron crystallographic analysis of the E46Q mutant of PYP. The resultant structure revealed that the proportion of the cationic form is higher in E46Q than in WT, although the cationic and neutral forms of Arg52 coexist in E46Q. These observations were confirmed by the occupancy of the deuterium atom bound to the Nη1 atom combined with an alternative conformation of the N(η2)D2 group comprising sp2 hybridisation. Based on these results, we propose that the formation of the LBHB decreases the proton affinity of Arg52, stabilizing the neutral form in the crystal.

Probing Ultrafast Structural Dynamics of Photoactive Yellow Protein with Femtosecond Time-Domain Raman Spectroscopy

Ultrafast dynamics of photoactive yellow protein was investigated by time-resolved impulsive stimulated-Raman spectroscopy. Time-Domain vibrational data revealed rapid change of the hydrogen-bonding structure in the excited state and vibrational structure of the first ground-state intermediate.